Can i ask your energy costs in an old house?

[Itsallabouttea]

Just trying to gauge how common our situation is!
We moved to a 3 bed Victorian end terrace last summer, typical house of the period, solid walls and EPC rating D. Prior to this I was a lodger with bills included so had little awareness of the cost. At the moment we're spending £8-9 a day just to be remotely comfortable - heating on for a couple of hours in the morning and maybe 3 in the evening. We both work from home and the house constantly feels absolutely Baltic - even when the heating's been on for hours it never gets above 16°. Is this just normal for houses of this age and are we destined to be bankrupt by the energy bill? We're paying 27p kWh for electricity, 7 for gas with Octopus

Have you got enough radiators? We bought a house a couple of years ago and it was only when winter arrived we realised there was only one radiator downstairs 🤦‍♀️🤣

Sounds about normal. Our three-bed, semi -detached is about £270-£290 pm at the moment for heating. I keep the thermostat at 14, but it feels warmer. And is usually warmer upstairs.

One thing that made a huge difference was a dehumidifier. The air feels warmer when it’s a bit drier and it also helps prevent damp. And makes a HUGE difference to how fast clothes dry on a clothes rack.

We have a similar house and pay a similar amount to you. If you haven't already, set it so it doesn't go below a certain temperature (we have ours on 15degrees), this works out more economical than having to heat up the house from very cold. Then have it on full for an hour morning and evening (or when you'll be in the house).
We also make sure we keep blinds/curtains shut unless we're using the room to keep heat in. And keep internal doors shut.
It's such a pain but thankfully it will be Spring soon.

3 bed Victorian terrace £250 per month for gas and electric, octopus.

We have 5 bed Victorian house that has an older part (1903) a later addition (1920s) and another part that we think is 1950s and double glazing that needs replacing - very draughty, single radiators throughout the older 2 parts of the house and the newest part has newer double radiators - contains downstairs cloakroom, large dining kitchen and large office - now warm as we very recently have replaced a poor fitting wooden side door with a super upvc style which has made a big difference.

Heating is on all day and night. We both work from home and have 3 children. Unless it’s set to 23.5 on the Hive it doesn’t feel properly heated in the 2 oldest parts of the house. We are in Scotland.

We pay £675 approx per month at the moment and this is due to go down a bit soon apparently.

when we moved in we planned to put in multi fuel burner to the main sitting room in the oldest part of the house as we have large open fireplace and grate and thought this could save on the heating costs but alas the money went on re-slating one of the roofs (rooves?) which on replacing an old skylight revealed the roof the skylight looked out upon was badly in need of repair - so that was that 😂

I find this as well.

The problem is that there are still too many people who think environmental control is just about heating or cooling and every problem can be solved by this, whereas humidity plays a very important role as well.

We renovated a three bed end terrace last year, cavity wall insulation new roof insulation etc and moved in last easter. We have gas heating with a metre so have put in £49 each month since easter and have not had to up payments yet. Used little through the summer except for the shower and hob. We also installed a multi fuel stove but only really light it at weekend when we both at home.
do you have cavity wall ins? We think that is why our house is so cosy.
we both work full time so heating on an hour in morning 4.30-8.30 downstairs and 6.30-8.30 upstairs.

3 bed Victorian end terrace. We don't feel the cold especially. Thermostat set to 14 all day, 16.5 for a couple of hours first thing and about 3hrs in the evening. Off at night.
Our gas bill is about 120 a month, but that's with a very efficient boiler and central heating system we had put in about 2yrs ago. I'd say your bill, while high, isn't unusual for an older house.

We've got a five bedroom Victorian semi, and our monthly direct debit for gas and electricity is £450 with Octopus. The heating is normally on from 6-10 am, 12-2, and 4-11pm, but when it's below zero overnight, we keep it on 24 hours. It's a very old and inefficient system, and we've only got one thermostat in the hall, which I'm not convinced really works. 😆

My flat which I recently sold was built in 1884 and was constructing using solid walls three bricks thick and three metres high. It cost peanuts to run, less than half your cost, and was very warm through out the cold weather. Heating was by an efficient gas combi boiler . I had a 2kw electric fire as back up but it has never been used except for the flame effect.

This was possible because I framed every wall and ceiling with two inch timber and insulated it with Kingspan (important) foam insulation before putting on plasterboard. I put a sheet of insulation under the floor coverings which makes it comfy to walk on and helps retain heat.

As I was creating new walls I took the opportunity to rewire the property and bring the electrics up to date.

We are in Scotland so temperatures do tend to be lower and it rains often. It is an upfront capital cost but will save you money in the long run but, more importantly, you get to enjoy your heating and don't feel as if you are throwing money down the drain. I hope that helps.

A dehumidifier makes a huge difference. I got mine from Toolstation for £129 and it costs 4p per hour to run. I have it running next to my airer too and the clothes dry within about 12/15 hours.

I have a 2 bed built in the 1920s. I have the heating on generally all day set at 20 (have two small children) I pay £211 a month for gas and electric

I used to live in a 1930s built terrace house which also cost a lot to heat -it wasn't double walled so our bills were high. A friend recommended insulating wallpaper for the external walls and it made a massive difference from day 1. It's VERY expensive - about £130 a roll, - enough to do 3 rooms that had large bay windows but it made an absolutely massive difference to heat retention and bills -we were even able to turn off the heating after an hour or so, rather than leave it on all evening. It also had a smooth, plaster like finish. Its called Wallrock KV600 and you do need to use the special paste to stick it to the wall. Not an ad.

Between 5 and £7 a day for dual fuel. But run some rooms at 21oC. Insulated every external wall and the floors as part of renovation. Very costly but house is now cosy and dry. Was freezing previously.

We’re considering this. Have you got personal experience of it - which product did you use?

Mid terrace 3 bed Georgian terrace. Gas CH. £60 pm with Eon and have £600 credit on my account. I very rarely put the heating on tbh. I do have a damp problem but open windows every day and then run a dehumidifier for a few hours which warms the house up.

I do have a damp problem but open windows every day and then run a dehumidifier for a few hours which warms the house up. I'm doing this in our living room. The fact that it makes a difference suggests that when we get round to insulating, we will need a breathable product, eg wool-based.